Monday, January 21, 2008
Cool website and podcast for freelance writers
Just found this podcast on iTunes last week while searching for any podcast having to do with freelancing, freelance writing, and/or writing. I really dig it because it's only around 15 minutes long and full of useful info. The 15-minute podcast format is quickly becoming my favorite. Check out WritingForPay.org and download the podcast on iTunes. I especially love the podcast on Joy Gorsuch because she's a blonde freelance writer with glasses--like me! Are we all blonde chicks with glasses, or at least writers with glasses? Must be all the hours at the computer. Plus, she's a house sitter. This isn't the first time I've heard of a media chick doing house sitting to make ends meet. Even better: here's a professional house sitter as in she's homeless. She's also like me in that she's an underemployed radio personality doing a podcast. (Or well, my podcast with MelodyTrip is on hiatus right now). Check out how some of us freelance chicks manage to make ends meet!
Sunday, January 13, 2008
My new year's blogging challenge and discovery of Tumblr
My buddy says my drive to blog once a day on my sites sounds very "draconian." He's probably right. Since I have big ideas for my websites that are meant to lead to the eventual earning of money from them, I first need an audience. You can't draw an audience without the content. You can't amass content without putting something new up there every day.
The other good thing about writing every day is the ideas. I'm forcing myself to come up with an idea every day. It really works the brain to stay creative and on top of things instead of oscillating into a complacent pattern of thinking only about grocery lists and which Netflix DVD is coming next. It also allows me to cover my topics thoroughly. I am afraid a little bit of burnout and of this becoming about quantity over quality. But I don't have a quota or really any rules. The idea is just to blog once a day and if I can't, I blog twice the next. The blogs don't have to be a certain length so some are long and some are short. And I'm trying to stay away from just posting links to other stuff, which a lot of blogs do. I look at that as just filler so I try not to do it.
That's what Tumblr is for anyway. This blog and my Libertease blog are two that I update as I feel like it. Tumblr is super-easy and quick to update. It's more like an online collection or scrapbook than a blog. I can even update it from the Tumblet, which is a widget I downloaded for my Apple Dashboard. So now I have a Libertease Tumblr page that is a companion for the actual blog. This is a politics blog I keep just for kicks, mostly to log how I am making my decision on who to vote for as president. I really can't decide who to vote for this election and that's really unusual for me. Usually I know all year which is the right candidate for me. So I imagine I'll be looking back over the blog the first week of November, trying to remember who did and said what all year long as I make my final decision.
The two that get updated daily are The Music Stalker blog and the Hippy Shopping Chick Blog. They're hobby blogs.
I'm a radio veteran and a total music stalker, always on the lookout for something good to listen to music-wise. That's what The Music Stalker is for. I just couldn't find a place where I could write about all the music I like. Everyone wants to give you a label and a niche and you're supposed to stay within the lines. I can't do that. I really do like all music. It gives me a spot in cyberspace to work on my own brand of unique music journalism.
Hippy Shopping Chick is about conscious lifestyle choices through, of course, shopping. It's about veganism, vegetarianism, healthy food, food geek stuff, recipes, personal care products, eco-friendly stuff, household items, living with a meat eater, and anything else I've confronted since converting to a mostly vegetarian lifestyle. The site is for people who are new vegetarians or who are interested in getting the most out of their health food store--and the people who are afraid to navigate the local health food store at all. The site is also for non-vegetarians. It's just for people who want to spend their money on a better lifestyle. I was inspired to do it because a coworker told me she thought of me when driving by a Whole Foods. Everyone says that. Then people who don't know me starting asking for advice about non-conventional sunblock by the pool...it was like I had "Hippy Shopping Chick" written on my forehead! I probably do.
The other good thing about writing every day is the ideas. I'm forcing myself to come up with an idea every day. It really works the brain to stay creative and on top of things instead of oscillating into a complacent pattern of thinking only about grocery lists and which Netflix DVD is coming next. It also allows me to cover my topics thoroughly. I am afraid a little bit of burnout and of this becoming about quantity over quality. But I don't have a quota or really any rules. The idea is just to blog once a day and if I can't, I blog twice the next. The blogs don't have to be a certain length so some are long and some are short. And I'm trying to stay away from just posting links to other stuff, which a lot of blogs do. I look at that as just filler so I try not to do it.
That's what Tumblr is for anyway. This blog and my Libertease blog are two that I update as I feel like it. Tumblr is super-easy and quick to update. It's more like an online collection or scrapbook than a blog. I can even update it from the Tumblet, which is a widget I downloaded for my Apple Dashboard. So now I have a Libertease Tumblr page that is a companion for the actual blog. This is a politics blog I keep just for kicks, mostly to log how I am making my decision on who to vote for as president. I really can't decide who to vote for this election and that's really unusual for me. Usually I know all year which is the right candidate for me. So I imagine I'll be looking back over the blog the first week of November, trying to remember who did and said what all year long as I make my final decision.
The two that get updated daily are The Music Stalker blog and the Hippy Shopping Chick Blog. They're hobby blogs.
I'm a radio veteran and a total music stalker, always on the lookout for something good to listen to music-wise. That's what The Music Stalker is for. I just couldn't find a place where I could write about all the music I like. Everyone wants to give you a label and a niche and you're supposed to stay within the lines. I can't do that. I really do like all music. It gives me a spot in cyberspace to work on my own brand of unique music journalism.
Hippy Shopping Chick is about conscious lifestyle choices through, of course, shopping. It's about veganism, vegetarianism, healthy food, food geek stuff, recipes, personal care products, eco-friendly stuff, household items, living with a meat eater, and anything else I've confronted since converting to a mostly vegetarian lifestyle. The site is for people who are new vegetarians or who are interested in getting the most out of their health food store--and the people who are afraid to navigate the local health food store at all. The site is also for non-vegetarians. It's just for people who want to spend their money on a better lifestyle. I was inspired to do it because a coworker told me she thought of me when driving by a Whole Foods. Everyone says that. Then people who don't know me starting asking for advice about non-conventional sunblock by the pool...it was like I had "Hippy Shopping Chick" written on my forehead! I probably do.
Monday, January 7, 2008
It's been a while since I've blogged
Let me try and make a long story short!
I am searching for a full-time job, but this is something I have done for a year now. Nobody has offered me anything I can't live without, so by default, I am still a freelancer. I am not sure I am happy about it. I am not sure I am ready to leave the world of being a worker bee for being a permanent freelancer. But I am closer than I was a year ago. If you're trying to decide whether to become a freelance writer, web programmer, designer or a freelance anything, this is a good thing to take into account. I think there are two kinds of freelancers.
1. Those who have enjoyed a long and fruitful career but who want to go out on their own and are ready to leave the comforts of a paycheck that comes every two weeks in the same amount.
2. Those who are forced to do it because their job search isn't going the way they want it to.
I'm in that second group and have been for over a year and a half. I guess it gives me an interesting perspective on trial by fire and being forced into this profession of being a freelancer. I do find it rewarding. If I take a full-time job tomorrow, I won't give up freelancing. I won't give up launching my own websites.
Speaking of...
My websites! They're updated!
WriterHeather.com has all kinds of updates, including an exciting new About Me page. Though I can't get the text to un-bold and don't know why. Suggestions welcome.
TheMusicStalker.com still needs some love and some expansion. But it's my very own piece of cyberspace dedicated to my own brand of music journalism. The action right now with The Music Stalker is all on the blog for the moment.
HippyShoppingChick.com is plugging along too and much faster than The Music Stalker main site. There's also action on the Hippy Shopping Chick blog.
In fact, that's my new year's resolution for 2008. I will blog daily on Hippy Shopping Chick and The Music Stalker in order to grow my audience. Let the adventure begin!
I am searching for a full-time job, but this is something I have done for a year now. Nobody has offered me anything I can't live without, so by default, I am still a freelancer. I am not sure I am happy about it. I am not sure I am ready to leave the world of being a worker bee for being a permanent freelancer. But I am closer than I was a year ago. If you're trying to decide whether to become a freelance writer, web programmer, designer or a freelance anything, this is a good thing to take into account. I think there are two kinds of freelancers.
1. Those who have enjoyed a long and fruitful career but who want to go out on their own and are ready to leave the comforts of a paycheck that comes every two weeks in the same amount.
2. Those who are forced to do it because their job search isn't going the way they want it to.
I'm in that second group and have been for over a year and a half. I guess it gives me an interesting perspective on trial by fire and being forced into this profession of being a freelancer. I do find it rewarding. If I take a full-time job tomorrow, I won't give up freelancing. I won't give up launching my own websites.
Speaking of...
My websites! They're updated!
WriterHeather.com has all kinds of updates, including an exciting new About Me page. Though I can't get the text to un-bold and don't know why. Suggestions welcome.
TheMusicStalker.com still needs some love and some expansion. But it's my very own piece of cyberspace dedicated to my own brand of music journalism. The action right now with The Music Stalker is all on the blog for the moment.
HippyShoppingChick.com is plugging along too and much faster than The Music Stalker main site. There's also action on the Hippy Shopping Chick blog.
In fact, that's my new year's resolution for 2008. I will blog daily on Hippy Shopping Chick and The Music Stalker in order to grow my audience. Let the adventure begin!
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